[SKILL] Meditate

Vibius · Post by **Vibius** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 8:42 pm

Just something for flavour.

Changing the echo for priests, instead of echoing "You sit down, cross your legs and begin to meditate." something like "You kneel and begin to pray"

Oghma · Post by **Oghma** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 9:11 pm

Its actually interesting about the interpretations of meditation, it is not so much about regaining power, but sighing and going to rest. I could see priests kneeling instead of crossing their legs, but I personally prefer it to still be echoed as meditation. So a priest would bend knee and enter meditation.

Tavik · Post by **Tavik** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 9:06 pm

Point taken Oghma, but really, priests aren't supposed to meditate at all to regain their "spells". Rather, they are supposed to pray to their patron deity at a certain time of day to receive said "spells" from them. Obviously, it wouldn't be fair to limit priests to regaining spells once a day. I think changing the echo to praying instead of meditating (despite the name) would more accurately portray how a priest's magic actually works and that they really are simply vessels for their deity's will.

Kelemvor · Post by **Kelemvor** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 11:30 am

If I recall correctly the echo that use of this skill sends to the room and to the player (as well as the pose seen whilst the skill is in use) can be Sset in the skill file.

The problem would be that the skill is used by wizards as well as priests and so any change to the echoes would impact on that class also.
This is why the current meditation echoes are quite general and the skill name does not distinguish between wizardly meditation or divine prayer.

Creating a specific recharge/prayer/divine channel skill would, I believe, mean adding a new skill file and adding trainers across the game. Whilst not impossible, it might well be excessive work for a modest return. Certainly, feel free to raise this as a suggestion and offer up the idea for discussion.

In the meantime, perhaps make use of the game alias system to echo your own smote before meditation or use smotes whilst meditating to roleplay the difference between wizards and priests.

Tavik · Post by **Tavik** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 7:13 pm

Would it be any easier to simply copy the meditate skill into a new skill, change the name and echo and then modify the priest class to no longer have the meditate command but the new command? I know next to nothing about what that would entail so it may just sound really easy to me. As for trainers, is there any sort of search function you could use to find the mobs that currently teach meditate and then add the new skill to them? Again, this may just sound really easy to me and not be. Just throwing out ideas.

Kregor · Post by **Kregor** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 10:26 pm

If you made a new skill for clerics in lieu of meditate, removed the meditate skill and the meditate command from their class file, then all the clerics would have to go around re-training their skill, and would have to start at whatever level the trainer went up to, and re-improve their skill. Lots of GMed meditating clerics would feel a bit shafted for a different echo.

Also, it would not change the long desc of a meditating/praying person (the "soandso sits here meditating") in a room, because that is determined by the position of the character, POS_MEDITATING.

I personally have no problem with the echo, and the pose command is an easy enough way to change the look of what you're doing to praying for those who see you in a room.

Tavik · Post by **Tavik** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 10:28 pm

Fair enough. I never thought about the impact it would have on clerics who already have meditate. Nice as it would be, I concede that it would be more effort than it is worth.

Leohand · Post by **Leohand** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 10:49 pm

You could have both, perhaps. Clerics that have already trained meditate get to keep it, and can also train pray. Also, you could open up meditate to all classes, even if it has no effect for non-magic users. Fighters could rp meditating, for example. Also, there is talk about removing the automatic healing ability from the game. I have hopefully discouraged that extreme, but it may be removed from certain areas. Perhaps those areas could be coded to let sleeping and meditating folks heal slowly.

Glim · Post by **Glim** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 5:59 am

On what Kregor said about using poses, you can also use smotes as well. No one ever said that you couldn't:

smote kneels upon the ground, clasping his hands together in prayer.
meditate
pose is kneeling here, praying for his spells.

You could even use aliases so that whenever you type the command meditate, it would give that smote and set your pose for you automatically.